foreign the yakuza are one of the world's most powerful criminal organizations as enigmatic as they are terrifying despite their long and complex history many people associate them with tattoos and amputated fingers this is what the american authorities discovered when they were confronted with these criminals for the first time at the end of the 1960s it happened in honolulu hawaii's capital there the u.s federal authorities saw the emergence of a new sort of criminal with tattoos and in some cases amputated fingers they had no idea of the internal functioning of this well-organized gang or how it ran its operations all they knew was that this new mafia was immense both in terms of the size of its operations and the number of people it employed it was unheard of at that time and it didn't take long for the american authorities to become concerned remember that in the 1960s the different american mafia organizations had around 20 000 members whereas japan had over 180 000 yakuza impressive isn't it especially for a country with a population twice as small as a result it wasn't long until the united states raised an alert they were confronted with a true criminal power that oversaw a wide range of activities including gambling drug trafficking the sale of weapons and even human trafficking you're undoubtedly asking what the us government is doing to fight this criminal organization they tried to obtain information about the yakuza from the japanese authorities unfortunately they were reluctant to share any information with them was it old post-war grudges that weighed in on the balance you might think so but the actual reason was much more obvious and completely different in reality the yakuza and the japanese police have cooperated for a long time the yakuza were accepted in society unlike the american mafia and many family heads had strong ties to the police some yakuza gangs didn't hesitate to display their union's emblem on their front door yeah that does sound a little crazy it's as if the american mafia indicated its hideouts with signs that said mafia headquarters but believe it or not there's more to come after specific shootings or gang conflicts some yakuza even held press conferences to announce the death of a civilian who was injured during the conflict or to announce the end of the rivalry i think you have understood it the yakuza are different from other gangsters so let's take a look back at the history of this organization originally secret and now well recognized the origin of the yakuza is quite uncertain there's no historical consensus on the topic in reality there exists four opposing theories as to the birth of the yakuza for this we have to go back to the end of feudal japan between the 17th and 19th centuries the first is that of kabukimano a term that could be roughly translated as the crazy ones in english the origin of kabukimano is quite mysterious they are said to be the descendants of the ronan fallen samurai during the feudal period the kabukimano were known for their dress and capillary eccentricity they were considered thugs brigands marginals with whom no one wanted to associate always equipped with a blade or a katana they terrorized defenseless citizens by committing crimes and misdeeds people say that the cruelest of them could kill innocent people just to test a new fighting technique or to check if their weapon was sharp their gang was made up of eccentric samurai warriors at the service of the japanese military leader the shogun an unwavering loyalty that set them apart from other criminal groups they protected each other and formed a real clan there is a high probability that the yakuza are the true heirs of the kabuki mano however the latter claim another paternity indeed most yakuza consider themselves makiaco or servants of the town their potential second origin if you pay attention to the speech of the yakuza you will notice that they generally describe themselves as enemies of the kabukimano these bloodthirsty samurais who in feudal times extorted robbed and killed honest people by claiming to be makiaco they therefore consider themselves as defenders of the oppressed and protectors of the people but the issue is a direct link between the yakuza and the makiaco is let's say difficult to establish there are then two other hypotheses that can explain the appearance of the yakuza the bakuto origin and the techia origin let's start with the bakuto itinerant gamblers who organized gambling parties in the clandestine bars of feudal japan some claim that the origin of the word yakuza comes from this group of individuals it was between the 17th and 19th century that the bakuto began to use this word the term for the worst score you can get at the japanese card game oycho the principle of this card game is simple three cards are dealt to each player at the end of a game the values of the cards are added together and the sum represents the player's score the object of the game is to get as close to the number nine as possible if you are unlucky enough to have a combination that sums to 20 then you have the worst draw in the game this said combination is obtained by drawing the cards eight nine three pronounced respectively in japanese ya which comes from yatsu and which means eight ku which means nine and za a deformation of san which means three from then on the expression takes on another meaning in the mouths of the bakuto who use it to designate useless things then it was used to refer to the players themselves and especially the losers the tequila were specialized in scams they were itinerant merchants organized into a guild who ransomed the inhabitants and travelers having the misfortune to approach them a little too closely the tequila group was known for its strict hierarchy a hierarchy that incidentally closely resembles that of the modern yakuza during the japanese feudal period the yakuza therefore began to organize themselves into families like the italian mafia with a godfather at the top and members gradually integrated into the clan but what differentiates them from the mafia is this unique relationship that they have added to their structure and known as the oyaban koban a relationship intrinsically linked to japanese culture the oyaban being the parent the chief and the koban the child the protege the latter works according to the scheme the oyabon gives advice offers protection and help and in return receives the loyalty and unfailing support of his koban in 18th century japanese society the oyabun koban system often served as the basis for the relationship between teachers and apprentices between lords and fossils or in the growing underworld between boss and right hand man in early yakuza gangs this relationship was sometimes characterized by a fanatical devotion of the koban to his oyaban this is not the case for example of american criminal groups the small bosses not hesitating to stab the bigwigs in the back to dethrone them to tell you the devotion of the kobun to the oyabon was such that he had to put himself in the front line against the cannons and the swords of the enemy camp to keep him alive in this at the risk of his death if the oyabun committed a crime the kobun also had to suffer the penalty and go to prison in his place today even if things have changed there is this adage still popular among the yakuza if the boss says that a passing crow is white you must agree however for the humble koban climbing the yakuza ranks could be a daunting task he was usually given tasks such as polishing dice cleaning the oyaban's house running errands or even babysitting [Music] as we have seen the origin of the yakuza remains uncertain nevertheless one verifiable fact literally sticks to their skin the tattoo are probably wondering why this practice was and is so widespread among japanese gangsters to answer this question we must look at its origin in fact at the time the yakuza tattoo was a punishment used by japanese authorities to ostracize outlaws from society for each crime committed a black ring was tattooed around the thug's arm which made it possible to distinguish at a glance the criminals from honest people there is however a nobler tradition of tattooing its remarkable patterns considered by many to be the most beautiful in the world date back hundreds of years already around the third century over the years the patterns have thus become increasingly intricate blending a striking array of famous gods folk heroes animals and flowers from then on at the end of the 17th century the complex tattoo on the whole body became popular especially with players the bakuto at the time the tattooing process was long and particularly painful the ink was inserted under the skin using non-powered tools as one would expect do you think a full back tattoo from neck to coccyx could take almost 100 hours this complexity as well as this very painful way of tattooing made it something unique one of these tattoos became popular with a yakuza who saw these indelible symbols as a way to differentiate themselves and prove their belonging the tattoo was also perceived as a test of strength which demonstrated their courage their robustness and their virility but the tattoo had another more humble and metaphorical purpose the self-inflicted wound represented an incapacity to adapt to society it was a visual way for the yakuza to express their marginality today many yakuza use more modern tattooing techniques although some continue to tattoo in an ancestral way thus earning them with greater respect within the japanese underworld moreover for the little anecdote the tattoo is nowadays so closely associated with the yakuza the japanese saunas and public baths anxious to protect their customers hang signs indicating quote forbidden to people with tattoos if the yakuza are recognized by their tattoos they are also recognized for a much more striking practice the amputation of fingers to understand this we must first look at the origin of the different rules that govern the yakuza and the initiation ceremony that accompanies the entry of new members into the organization an official ceremony between oyaban and koban takes place as follows an auspicious day is chosen and all members of the organization attend the rice fish and salt are deposited in the alcove of the shinto shrine in front of which the oyaban and koban are seated face to face the members acting as intermediaries ceremonially serve the fish and fill the glasses with sake which symbolizes the blood bond they then solemnly turn to the koban and warn him of his future duties after drinking from the cup of the oyaban and he from yours you must now be faithful to your family and devote it to your oyaban even if your wife and children starve even at the cost of your life your duty is now to the family and the oyabun [Music] in addition to this initiation right the techia and the bakuto have also developed a set of rules indicating respect for secrecy and the strictest obedience to the oyoban koban system until today the yakuza were required to respect this code of honor inspired by the code of japanese chivalry in which it is said that don't blame innocent citizens don't steal his friend's wife don't steal from the clan do not take drugs respect and obey the clan leader be prepared to sacrifice life and liberty for the leader don't talk to anyone of the clan do not reveal the secrets of the organization to the police and don't kill the civilians and if the kobun had the misfortune to break any of these rules he could be severely punished cowardice disobedience and the divulging of secrets were indeed seen not only as acts of treason but also as affronts to the reputation and honor of the clan besides death the heaviest penalty was expulsion from the ranks when there was banishment the oyabun then notified the other clans that the member was no longer welcome in his group this way a common agreement was reached and the outcast could no longer join any other gang as for serious offenses deserving neither death nor expulsion there was the yubatsumi a custom introduced by the bakuto consisting of ceremonially cutting the upper joint of the little finger we are finally getting there the amputation of the fingers would have had the primary purpose of weakening the hand of the victim so that he could no longer grip his sword firmly this practice then made it possible to make the koban even more dependent on the protection of his oyaban when the koban had to be amputated for repentance the severed phalanx was wrapped in a thin cloth and solemnly handed over to the oyaban who accepted it most of the time and when there was a recurrence another amputation could be performed at the level of the second joint of the same finger or the upper joint of another finger the yubitsumi was usually a warning before the final expulsion of the member concerned a practice that later spread to takiyah and other criminal groups but in addition to these highlights the bakuto and the takia also made themselves known for their very close relationship with the police they were indeed the first japanese criminals capable of cooperating with authorities a cooperation that has enabled them to consolidate and extend their influence it was then the beginning of a political corruption that was going to extend the highest echelons of the japanese government under the reign of emperor meiji from 1868 the japanese achieved their first economic miracle breaking the last tides of feudalism and rapidly transforming their country into an industrial power an economic prosperity that will allow the yakuza to expand their activities even further it was at the end of the 19th century that some yakuza organizations began to pay bribes to the police a habit that will be kept for a very long time within the criminal organization indeed in this new more industrial japan the yakuza had no choice they had to modernize and for that they said to themselves that they had to set foot in politics a task not so obvious as that he will tell me well actually not really since gangsters and politicians had one thing in common their deep attachment to conservatism and nationalism [Music] a man then perfectly symbolized this union between the yakuza and politicians mitsuru toyama an ultranationalist who from an early age idolized the samurai tradition he entered politics in his early 20s by participating in one of the last samurai uprisings against meiji power a failed coup that earned him a three-year prison sentence toyama indeed hated everything that the meiji era represented economic modernization cultural modernization all of this he did not want upon his release he rushed to join the first nationalist group and began to gather supporters some of them were yakuza for which toyama was a tough fighting force used in particular to limit social conflicts and assassinate certain left-wing politicians following this toyama begins to make a name for himself in the region and like robin hood he's quickly gaining a national folk hero image he had not only the approval of the people but also that of part of the japanese political sphere his political convictions will then change the history of the country as well as that of the yakuza when he creates the jeniyasa or dark ocean society in 1881 a nationalist federation which will be the precursor of secret societies in patriotic groups bringing together many former takia and bakudo from then on at the end of the 19th century ultra nationalism became one of the components of the japanese political landscape a political landscape in which the yakuza now fit perfectly thanks to their alliance with politicians it was also in the early 20th century that many yakuza gangs emerged one of them was born in the city of kobe the yamaguchi gumi the largest yakuza family at present a yakuza syndicate that succeeded in the early 1930s in ousting all its rivals and rising to the top of the japanese underworld this rise the yamaguchi gumi owes mainly to its leader kazuo taoka the undisputed godfather of japanese organized crime known for his cruelty and his sense of organization in the 1930s and 40s he transformed the yamaguchi gumi into a powerful criminal organization with nearly 13 000 members in 36 of japan's 47 prefectures an impressive criminal influence but the japanese are currently focused on a much more serious event the attack on pearl harbor and its entry into the war against the united states an armed conflict that the japanese experienced as a terrible humiliation the millions of soldiers who died on the battlefields the two atomic bombings and the soviet invasion had gotten the better of japan which had to capitulate on september 2nd 1945 a defeat which then meant the beginning of the american occupation in the land of the rising sun under the occupation the japanese lacked everything especially food fortunately and quite paradoxically it must be admitted the citizens were able to count on the help of the yakuza the emergence of the black market has indeed enabled the japanese people to feed themselves as best they can deeply attached to their homeland the yakuza have even gone so far as to trade their weapons for tools to help rebuild the country aid that would allow the yakuza to be better accepted in society japanese citizens now feeling indebted however at the end of the 1940s the american occupying forces hinted they wanted to eliminate the yakuzas rather contradictory discourse when we know that they helped the japanese gangs a lot during the occupation especially in terms of supplying rice for the black market in reality during the occupation american policy was quite disastrous the american authorities and mainly general macarthur knew very well that the gangsters were kings in japan but did nothing to restore order their priority was not the yakuza but the possible rise of communism in the land of the rising sun and for this the americans saw the japanese ultra-nationalist underworld a potential ally since they too were fiercely opposed to communism it was then the beginning of the cold war a period that would bring to light another japanese ultra-nationalist figure yoshio kodama one of the most powerful men in post-war japan and also one of those who will mark the most history of the yakuza like toyama before him kadama creates alliances between gangsters and politicians in 1933 he founded his own political group called the independent youth society a company whose main purpose is to assassinate certain japanese politicians after world war ii he was imprisoned in tokyo and considered a class a war criminal the largest category of prisoners on his release from prison on december 24 1948 kodama did not hesitate to use his fortune acquired through smuggling operations for political purposes it suppresses social conflicts and chases communists from japan like what senator mccarthy was able to do in the united states with the hunt for communists and to achieve his ends kadama even goes so far as to work hand in hand with american intelligence services the cia the beginning of a long cooperation in the 1950s and 1960s the cia secretly funded japanese nationalists to fight communism in asia the yakuza allies of far-right politicians therefore benefit indirectly from this aid remember that millions of dollars were paid by the cia to support the japanese liberal democratic party the country's conservative right thus thanks to kadama's influence the yakuza played a key role in the japanese political scene after the war the alliance with ultra-nationalist politicians allows the underworld to be more influential than ever in the end the american occupation was a real boon for the yakuza who were able to develop politically and economically throughout the country however the best was yet to come the 1950s marked a time of significant change for the japanese the country is gradually regaining its industrial power and recovering for the chaos left by the second world war in addition the san francisco peace treaty filed in april of 1952 marked the official end of the american occupation of japan freed from this burden the japanese nation was finally able to recover its sovereignty and devote itself entirely to its own interests it does not take long to climb the slope since 1968 japan has become the third economic power in the world a flash reconstruction that did not make the yakuza happy because remember they drew big profits from the black market but the foodstuffs having become abundant again they saw this market disappear then losing the control they had over the people japanese gangsters were thus forced to turn to other professions such as prostitution gambling entertainment and especially drug trafficking you may not know this but during world war ii the japanese army as well as other armies during that conflict offered their soldiers methamphetamine so that they did not feel fear or fatigue during the fight this drug produced in large quantities was notably consumed by famous suicide bombers ready to sacrifice themselves to cause the maximum number of victims among the enemy after the war there were still huge stocks left and the yakuza naturally sniffed out the opportunity by distributing this drug all over japan which probably allowed them to prosper besides prostitution drug trafficking and entertainment the japanese underworld continued its other activities including extortion which was in the 1950s one of its main sources of income through their various activities japanese gangs have grown a lot by generating prodigious income it was also during the 1950s that the yakuza began to copy the codes of american gangsters the reason the emergence of hollywood cinema on japanese soil during and after the occupation japanese gangsters are now dressed in dark suits dark ties white shirts all usually accompanied by sunglasses in addition to their style some yakuza bosses are also changing their style of car now preferring big american sedans another remarkable fact in the 1950s the number of yakuza gangs increased considerably to give you an idea the tokyo metropolitan police estimated that in 1958 there were around 70 000 yakuza in japan five years later this number climbed to 184 000 members more men than the entire japanese army at the time in the 60s and 70s two yakuza families will then prosper the yamaguchi gumi the kobe yakuza syndicate that you already know a little about and the inagawa kai located in the tokyo area hmm it's true we still haven't talked about tokyo the capital anyway well in this region tell yourself that no gang has ever managed to have a monopoly finally yes one more than the others the inagawa kai founded by a certain kakuji inagawa another influential yakuza leader like kauzo taoka ah yes speaking of taoka towards the end of the 1950s its influence began to spread throughout the national territory taoka could indeed boast of having nearly 10 000 koban in his pay as well as a criminal organization with 343 different gangs it is also during this period that tayoka and inagawa are about to declare war yes because on the contrary the two yakuza leaders joined forces on october 24 1972 thanks to a very close friend of the two men the gangster and politician yoshio kadama again him yeah the most prominent figure in japanese organized crime in the 1960s he continues to do what he does best combine the underworld and politics agreements that will further modernize the yakuza gangs you should now know that kodama was the political representative for some of the biggest yakuza syndicates in the country thanks to him the gangsters were guaranteed to reach the peak of political power kodama held politicians in one hand and an army of gangsters in his service in the other it's certainly no exaggeration to say that in the 1960s and 70s he was one of the most powerful men in japan but at the end of the 1970s an event put an end to his career for good the reason charges against him for tax evasion linked to a huge scandal a story that takes root a few years earlier in 1957 to be exact at the time the representative of the famous american aerospace firm lockheed in japan was instructed to sell combat aircraft to the japanese army to do this he then made direct contact with kodama who played on his political connections to favor the american company the downside to that huge bribes the affair then broke out in 1976 and the japanese people were indignant for kadama the long descent into hell was about to begin he is indeed tried and accused of having embezzled 6.5 million dollars in income taxes between 1972 and 1975 and of having obtained 3.6 million dollars in foreign currency throughout his trial demonstrators will come to his home with the firm intention of making him pay for his betrayal supporters of ultra nationalist groups once great admirers of kodama now proposed that he commit suicide for having soiled the honor of japan in particular by encouraging him to perform the famous harakiri a ritual suicide consisting in disembowelling the phenomenon also takes on such proportions that one day a man named mitsuyasu manu an ex-film actor and ultra-nationalist partisan tries to kill kadama by crashing into his home with a plane like a suicide bomber of the second world war [Music] unfortunately for him this attack fails as he narrowly misses his target and dies instantly in the process following the revelation of this scandal the state of health of yoshio kadama then declines rapidly and his empire with it kodama will tell reporters he received divine punishment after serving on an american airline that killed so many japanese during the pacific war he died in his sleep of a stroke on january 17 1984 in tokyo before the end of his trial this large-scale scandal will thus greatly tarnish the image of the yakuza with the japanese people until then grateful the japanese have indeed begun to see them differently unfortunately this bad publicity was not enough to reduce the power of the japanese underworld kazuo taoka the leader of the yamaguchi gumi now 65 is still as influential as ever with nearly 120 000 yakuzas in his ranks unlike kadama he knew he had to stay in the shadows however he too will fall from his pedestal how by gang rivalry this whole story begins one evening in july of 1978 that evening tauka sits quietly in a kyoto nightclub accompanied by five henchmen when suddenly a young man in a white shirt rises from his seat pulls out a 38 caliber and empties his magazine at the underworld godfather the assailant then flees in an attempt to save himself while taoka is rushed into an armored cadillac and taken under police escort to the nearest hospital hid in the neck he miraculously managed to get out tauka's attacker was none other than a 25 year old yakuza belonging to the matsuda gumi clan a rival of the yamaguchi gumi family also active in western japan unfortunately for him it didn't last long he is found a few weeks later savagely murdered on the side of a mountain near kobe thus after this assassination attempt a gangboar worthy of the chicago of the 1930s breaks out yakuza clash in broad daylight in the street and no one not even law enforcement can stop this chaos five other yakuza affiliated with the matsuragumi will be assassinated in the bloody reprisals that will follow meanwhile taoka struggles to get back on his feet his injuries from the gunfight had weakened him considerably forcing him to retire for some time it was the beginning of the end for the clan godfather yamaguchi gumi the yamaguchi gumi syndicate owes much of its strength to taoka's leadership however after his assassination attempt it was no longer the same thing increasingly weak taoka no longer has control of his gang and the clan thus begins to divide some lieutenants already fighting to become his heir [Music] taoka finally died in july of 1981. it's a heart attack that ends its 35-year reign as japan's most powerful yakuza syndicate at the time of his death the yamaguchi gumi clan alone was generating more than 460 million a year some 1 300 yakuza from 200 gangs then gather in kobe to honor their late godfather several yakuza leaders as well as prominent businessmen attend the funeral and flowers arrive from all over the country [Music] to the greatest surprise it is his wife fumiko taoka who takes over the reigns of the yamaguchi gumi something quite unprecedented in the history of the yakuza fumiko's role was to be temporary to fill the void until a male leader could emerge the male leader was originally supposed to be kenichi yamamoto founder of the yamakin gumi the largest branch of the yamaguchi gumi but unfortunately for him he died from an illness seven months after the death of kazuo taoka from then on for a time almost 12 000 yakuza of japan's largest crime syndicate are going to be led by a woman it was not until 1984 that a new godfather named masahisa takanaka was elected [Music] in 1980s japan the yamaguchi gumi and the inagawa kai are still the two prominent yakuza families well not really since there's another one we haven't talked about yet the sumi yoshikai a yakuza syndicate singular in many respects which had no oyabun unlike the yamaguchi-gumi for example it worked quite differently the sumi yoshikai has several heads all equal to each other the tribute of kobun paid to the oyabun is lower and more autonomy is given to gang members in general a system that works very well when we know that in the mid 1980s sumi yoshikai brought in more than 276 million dollars a year but a question now arises what were the police doing all this time well she was cooperating with the gangsters there has indeed always been a unique relationship between law enforcement and the yakuza with widespread and institutionalized corruption it happened for example that the police organized raids against the underworld the thing is that most of the time the gangsters were released after a few days often for lack of evidence the gangs were indeed warned before each major police raid which gave them plenty of time to flee and hide the elements likely to incriminate them before the arrival of the authorities the yakuza were nice though as sometimes they would leave guns behind for the police to save face there was also a certain familiarity between them as the gangsters and police usually knew each other by name on top of that they shared the same values of conservatism and nationalism a japanese policeman then said not all yakuzas are bad i have friends who are yakuza they are honorable chivalrous people they show the true spirit of the japanese people the gangsters on the other hand respected the police and understood their duty to uphold the law for example after a murder was committed the guilty yakuza would go to the nearest police station to make a full confession a relationship between gangs and police shared by yakuza leader kakugi inagawa would say we believe in the japanese police if they say the yanagawa gang is bad then it is so i don't want to say this but they are very capable luck it is their duty to watch me i respect them please convey my best regards to them moreover this complicity was such that some yakuza could help the police and play their part in resolving certain conflicts within the japanese society the japanese were of course aware although sometimes certain scandals break out much like the one in early 1983 at that time the japanese press brought to light a scandal linking the police to the yakuza some police officers reportedly accepted bribes of up to twenty thousand dollars to turn a blind eye to crimes committed by gangsters a corruption that didn't really go well the authorities to preserve their image therefore acted accordingly results 124 police officers were fired or disciplined enough officers to provide security for a japanese city of nearly 70 000 people at the time a scandal that is however nothing compared to what will follow yeah i think it's time to talk about the most successful yakuza era the late 80s the late 1980s were indeed a wonderful time for japan from 1986 to 1990 the japanese economy experienced extraordinary growth with real estate and stock market values exploding at that time tokyo became the largest stock exchange in the world with a value of real estate exceeding that of the whole united states as you can imagine this economic boom has not escaped the yakuza gamers at heart japanese gangsters were quick to dive into the real estate in booming stock markets they started investing big and as a result they reaped huge profits at breakneck speed at the time many gangs capitalized on multi-million dollar businesses especially in the construction and entertainment industries and as if that were not enough the illegal income of the yakuza is also increasing gambling prostitution drug trafficking in short it was a blessed period for the japanese underworld which thanks to this speculative bubble amass tens of millions of dollars but we cannot evoke this prosperous period without having spoken of susumu-ishi the new yakuza godfather of tokyo who succeeds kakugi inagawa as the head of the inagawa kai sasumu ishii was no ordinary gangster at that time he was the richest thug in all of japan and one of the richest in the world unlike other yakuza who flaunted their tattoos and intimidated passers-by ishii adopted a more low-key and elegant lifestyle he was a godfather who preferred the strength of words to that office a strategy that will succeed rather well when we know that in 1988 his fortune exceeded 1.6 billion dollars it's simple everything this guy touched turned to gold thanks to the bubble he made colossal gains which he invested in real estate the stock market and a tangled network of more than a dozen law firms in japan and abroad it is also said that he gave for reasons still unknown 360 thousand dollars to noriega the panamanian dictator at the time who was known to have amassed a fortune through drug trafficking in the 1980s [Music] during his reign the inagamikai had become tokyo's largest crime syndicate ishii had nearly 7 500 men at his disposal who engaged in drug trafficking extortion gambling in a hundred other rackets in just three years he had managed to raise the yakuza to heights they had never reached before but you know all bubbles eventually burst and the japanese economy was no exception the crisis began in the early 1990s it was one of the worst crisis in the country in 40 years japan had never experienced this suffice to say that the consequences were terrible for ishii the inagawa kai and the entire japanese underworld ishi's empire has indeed collapsed and to make matters worse his health has seriously deteriorated no wonder that in october 1990 he resigned as head of inagawakai and officially retired a retirement that will not last long since he will die almost a year later so after four years of prosperity it was time for japan to pay the piper the yakuza saw their income drop drastically and then a decade of scandals ensued scandals that have dangerously pointed the japanese underworld behind bad loans to the tune of 288 billion dollars during the speculative bubble this economic crisis was ultimately a reflection of the failure of law enforcement to contain the influence of the yakuza which was becoming increasingly evident to respond to this unprecedented wave of scandals senior japanese police officials have therefore concluded that stricter measures are necessary scandals that cost billions of dollars rampant corruption constant yakuza harassment and bloody gang wars have wreaked havoc on the japanese islands and it was time to act one such step was taken on march 1 1992 when the japanese government passed an anti-gang law with this law japan designated the yakuza as a social evil for the first time with special measures to contain them but as you can imagine the yakuza didn't sit idly by to face this new legislation which would not suit them all they organized demonstrations and filed several lawsuits at first this new law seemed to have a huge impact on the yakuza the police announced that thousands of gangsters have ceased their activities and that dozens of criminal groups had dissolved following the anti-gang law but the facts announced were unfortunately far from reality the anti-gang law had indeed succeeded in driving out tens of thousands of gangsters but most of them remained loyal to the underworld they had simply reconverted themselves into the roles of associates to be cleared of all suspicion eventually these measures will help reduce the total number of yakuza by ten thousand however their number will always remain high since in 1994 there were nearly 80 000 yakuza of whom nearly half are now designated as associates in the end this law only had the effect of driving the yakuza underground making intelligence gathering even more difficult some yakuza leaders will then swear to end all cooperation with authorities this crackdown had another far more important consequence however the yakuza began to explore business opportunities overseas [Music] gone are the easy money and prosperous years of the bubble the yakuza now had to restructure and regain their greatness a not easy task when we know that their income from gambling and extortion have fallen sharply ultimately what the yakuza needed in those days was new markets to tap into and that's what they did in the early 1990s by embarking on the international trafficking of women they lured tens of thousands of women across asia and promised them legitimate jobs and money of course those promises were just promises in reality these poor women were drugged then exploited as sex slaves forced into prostitution and japanese brothels trafficking in women was a profitable business for the yakuza bringing in billions of dollars every year but there was another even more lucrative market that the yakuza exploited overseas drug trafficking one of them was methamphetamine an illegal substance that japanese gangsters were already very familiar with the latter was usually produced in east asia from there the yakuza traded it internationally and thus reaped huge profits contributing greatly to the revival of their organization in addition to meth japanese gangsters were interested in heroin which was also very profitable for this they went to southeast asia then there was cocaine another drug in which the yakuza were interested indeed in the 1990s representatives of the colombian colleague cartel reportedly came into contact with the largest yakuza gang the yamaguchi gumi together they would have plotted to bring huge quantities of cocaine into japan the kind of information that gives international criminal authorities nightmares an alliance between the powerful yamaguchi-gumi syndicate and the dreaded kali cartel can you imagine the colombian cartel would therefore have sent cocaine distributors everywhere in japan in tokyo osaka yokohama or even kobe the colombians seemed determined to show that they could be as ruthless in the land of the rising sun as at home but strangely the threat of the arrival of this drug on japanese soil remained at the threat stage japanese police had prepared for a cocaine blizzard that ultimately never happened the colombians never followed up on the case without anyone being able to explain why then there was the deal with the russian mafia although less organized than the italian or japanese crime syndicates russian mobsters demonstrated unprecedented business acumen and ruthlessness former kgb and police agents are behind many russian criminal groups the latter then spread throughout the world and came into contact with the largest criminal organizations including the yakuza russia and japan remained distant neighbors largely due to the dispute over soviet union seizure of japan's northern islands at the end of world war ii trade between the russian far east and japan however developed quite rapidly a fruitful collaboration which will allow the resale of stolen cars and consumer goods from japan to russia and vice versa for russian weapons and women however the most ambitious yakuza had already set their sights on the united states long ago it was no wonder that japanese gangsters began to appear on the beaches of hawaii and on the american mainland itself in the early 1970s the yakuza had indeed already established bases in the country of uncle sam particularly in the american islands of the pacific they have therefore developed on the continent in los angeles san francisco or new york in new york for example in the early 1980s local police became aware of the existence of yakuza and large-scale criminal operations in the area however she is not more worried than that and makes it known in this way if there were any rackets like prostitution the five families would be interested you can't do anything for very long in new york without the mafia becoming aware of it in this type of business you have to deal with them i think new york is just geographically inconvenient for the yakuza to get anything going in and less than a year after this declaration guess what they learn the new york mafia has decided to collaborate with the yakuza in particular to organize clandestine gambling the new york police were right on one point the five families did not want competitors on their territory so why collaborate with the yakuza well because in the eyes of the american mafia the yakuza were not a threat but simply a way to expand their business from then on japanese gangsters were able to forge alliances with the local mafia a deal that will benefit both parties thus at the end of the 20th century the yakuza established themselves in a plethora of countries allowing them to considerably develop their activities internationally they finally seem to be recovering from the huge financial losses associated with the bursting of the bubble however as they enter the second millennium they will face new and much more insidious problems ultimately the yakuza will become like the u.s mafia in the future there will be one national mob a mafia that will kill for profit the yakuza must respect morals and regulations and obey them but that tradition is fading it is because of the generation gap that i worry kakuji inagawa showed so many signs of fear at the beginning of the 21st century he was not the only one in this situation the most common complaint among japanese underworld bosses in the 2000s was that the new yakuza were now more violent less obedient and more interested in big prophets than the old traditions tokutaro takayama long-time leader of kyoto's yakuza gang told a reporter today they don't care anymore about obligations tradition respect and dignity there are no rules anymore and you can't say he was wrong the modern yakuza has indeed gradually shed the weight of tradition to look like the ordinary gangster the criminal world of the 21st century no longer needs ideology chivalry or absolute loyalty on the contrary this era seems to demand that thugs be more deceitful cunning and without honor as a result and for the first time in their history the yakuza began to act only for themselves and no longer for the gang as a whole this ultimately dramatically changed the face of japanese organized crime a modernization of yakuza gangs that began in the rubble of 1945 and continues today during all this time the japanese underworld has gradually abandoned its principles and the gang wars that have caused many civilian casualties are one example among many in 1984 the tokyo metropolitan police who know the yakuza better than anyone went public with what the gangs have been observing for several years already there is a clear trend of declining solidarity and obedience among the yakuza members this stems from the retirement of aging gang bosses who maintain strict discipline as well as changes in the temperament of rank-and-file gangsters a decrease which is explained in particular by the question of retirement because in recent decades more and more young oyaban have come to power and have gradually changed the structure of gangs the passage of the yakuza in the high spheres of finance and their expansion abroad occurred with the death of the last big bosses those who had come to power under the occupation thus the older generation and with it its traditions have gradually disappeared however not all younger generation yakuzas are misfits they are simply the fruit of another generation less receptive to ancient customs seeing in them only obstacles to their activities less prone to obey their oyabun few are now ready to take their lives in hand and devote themselves to it in addition like the omerta that had fallen with the italian mafia some yakuza began to speak out and announce their boss an act which they couldn't even think of a few years earlier accumulating great wealth or succeeding in business became the only goal of the new generation of japanese gangsters [Music] so you have seen that yakuza are far from ordinary gangsters present since feudal japan they became the key to the country's political power in the 20th century throughout their history they have played the role of an honorable opposition in japanese society sometimes accepted sometimes rejected sometimes criminals sometimes heroes in the west it is only in sicily where one can affirm that the mafia had such a scale and still over the decades the japanese have thus learned to live with the underworld sometimes yielding to its demand to maintain a semblance of social peace in the past this method made it possible to ensure a certain harmony within the population but this social contract is in the process of being broken strongly weakened the yakuza would now be on the verge of extinction their number has indeed dropped drastically as well as the number of young japanese joining their ranks from now on authorities are doing everything to fight against their misdeeds and even offer them reintegration into society a strange fate for this criminal group that was once king in the land of the rising sun [Music] we're getting to the end of the video i hope you liked it and learned more about the yakuza if you want more stuff like this feel free to subscribe and turn on notifications it would help me a lot thanks for your time take care of yourself and see you soon [Music] so you